Friday's Freezing Rain Event

As a road-warrior traveling consultant, I am of course at the mercy of winter weather and school delays and closings. This week, while I was in Frederick County, VA, what was predicted to be a light dusting of snow on Wednesday night actually created enough snow to close schools Thursday. With the bitter temperatures we've had with this current cold snap (high temps barely in the low 20s), that snow was still problematic enough that school was called off Friday as well.

For me, the problem was getting home Friday: a winter weather warning for freezing rain and sleet had been issued for Winston-Salem and the surrounding areas, starting at 10 am. If I'd had to work on Friday in Winchester, I'm not sure I'd have made it home Friday afternoon/evening. Thank goodness school was called off (of course, I don't get paid when I don't work) but I was back in Winston-Salem by 10:30 am yesterday. (Local news reported between 25 and 30 accidents in the vicinity last evening.)

By early Friday afternoon, I had a great fire going and was enjoying stretching my legs out in front of it, in my old man's chair.

Fire No. 9

Fire No. 9

Once the sleet and freezing rain finished their run, the driveway/parking lot put on a good show for what effect all this had: it was a sheet of ice. Not a thick one, but with ice, it doesn't take much.

Cyprus found it all pretty intriguing. Then again, her short memory and/or her exuberance to chase a squirrel made her forget to take care on the steps leading out to the parking area...she wiped out pretty hard when she made a mid-morning dash out to go terrorize creatures lurking near the feeders in the backyard.

With the temperatures still in the mid-20s, I was more than happy to get another fire going to start my Saturday morning.

Fire No. 10